Thoughts on football, books, and life in general

End of season thoughts

A rather odd headline on a Charlton site caught my eye: it said, “The race for ninth place hots up.” Maybe it’s a way of dealing with a mid table finish. If the last few games of the season lack any possibility of relegation or promotion you can create your own excitement by thinking of your team as racing to a mid table position. Personally I’m very happy with Birmingham City’s position. Yes, it was great to be in the crowd at Bolton at the end of last season and experience the euphoria when Caddis scored the goal that kept us up. But I also remember what it felt like trudging away from White Hart Lane in 2011, after failing to stave off relegation.

Birmingham City does have a history of last-game-of-the-season drama. In 1993, our last game was at home against tomorrow’s opponents and a goal from Paul Moulden kept us up. I remember a nice photo of him celebrating in front of joyous Blues fans. One of my favourite goal celebration pictures is the one of Paul Tait after his golden goal in the Auto Windscreens Final, 1995, the one with his arms outstretched before he took his top off and revealed the infamous T shirt. That happened 20 years ago yesterday.

Another anniversary will be remembered this weekend, a sad one. All league games will start with a minute’s silence to mark the 30th anniversary of the Bradford City fire disaster. A book has just been published revealing that the former Bradford chairman was linked to other fires before that one. A fan who helped rescue people from the burning stand has called for a full investigation. We sometimes look back at the past through rose-tinted spectacles but, sadly, corruption and shady deals have always been a part of the game of football.